Notre Dame Fighting Irish Brian Kelly watches his team warm up before the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Notre Dame Stadium. / Brian Spurlock, US Presswire

by Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports

by Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame's only No. 1 vote in the USA TODAY coaches poll came from Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, he revealed Sunday on his teleconference.

"We've played a tough schedule," Kelly said, one day after a 21-6 victory at Boston College to improve to 10-0. "Obviously wins on the road against Oklahoma, Michigan State and certainly showing how to beat a top team in Stanford. Those wins are big wins for us. We're tested, and I like the way our quarterback is developing and we're getting better and better each week."

Notre Dame sits at No. 3 in the poll, behind No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 Kansas State. Unless one of those two teams suffers a loss, it appears the Irish could be left out of the BCS national championship game even if they finish undefeated.

That would be a bitter pill for Notre Dame to swallow, given that its strength of schedule will likely be rated higher by the computers. The Irish also have some common opponent comparisons in their favor (for instance, they beat Oklahoma more impressively than Kansas State did). What Notre Dame lacks is so-called style points. Three of its wins (Purdue, BYU and Pittsburgh) have come by three points, two have come in overtime (Stanford and Pitt) and its only true blowouts were against Navy and Miami.

On the other hand, Notre Dame ranks No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense at 11.1 points allowed per game. The Irish have yielded just nine offensive touchdowns in 10 games, five fewer than Alabama and Florida.

"If you want style points, look at our defense," Kelly said. "Look at the schedule we've played. I think it's pretty clear this team has been built around its defense and we've lived up to that each and every week. We'll just work on that one win at a time and let other people figure out where that puts us."